At the recent Paris Olympics, American runner Yared Nuguse finished third in the men’s 1500 meters.

Although Nuguse dearly wanted to win gold, just being there to compete would have thrilled him as a high schooler.

Yared Nuguse ran a 4:06 mile as a high school senior. This was an outstanding time for a high school track athlete, but he didn’t rank in the top 15 among his high school peers that year.

Today, Yared Nuguse’s PR in the mile is 3:43.97 - the 4th fastest mile of all time! (3:43.97). Oh, by the way, Reed Brown, the runner who held the fastest high school mile time in 2015, no longer runs competitively as an adult.

The best youth athletes are usually not the best adult athletes.

I have a 14-year-old boy who has played soccer and is now focusing on running as a distance athlete.

What can I do as a parent to encourage him to be his best? Make it fun for now. If he falls in love with the sport, he'll fall in love with the work to get better.

Here are two key statistics regarding athletes in top form during their late teens.

• Less than 1 in 5 basketball players recognized as a first-team freshman All-American make it to the NBA.
• Only 3% of British soccer players who train in elite soccer academies make it to the Premier League.

Why?

The athletes who improve the most are those who put in long and dedicated hours. They are usually the ones who ultimately dominate in their 20s and beyond. Kobe Bryant was the poster child for this.

Think of it like this:

An athlete with near-the-top physical talent who works hard hours to realize their full potential will outperform an athlete with national-elite ability who works less.

Print that and pin it to your refrigerator. 

One last thing. Why the Top 5 athletes are better than the Top 25

There was a study done in Florida at a tennis Academy, and what they looked at was:

What is the difference between those tennis players who are in the top five in the world versus those who are in the top 25?

• Was it their diet? No.
• Was it their exercise? No.
• Was it when they started playing the game?  No.
• Was it their coaching? No.

What they found was that the difference between the top five ranked people in the world and the other in the top 25 was their thinking.

In the 10 to 15 seconds after a point had been scored in tennis, those athletes who thought of positive things, such as: 

• I love this game
• There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.
• Watch this.

What are the benefits for athletes who always think positively?

• They slow down their heart rate
• They slow their breathing rate
• They feel better, and ultimately, they are victorious.